Writing this paper was possible due to financial support provided by „Entrepreneurial Education and

Professional Counseling for Social and Human Sciences PhD and Postdoctoral Researchers to ensure
knowledge transfer” Project, co-financed from European Social Fund through Human Capital
Programme (ATRiUM, POCU/380/6/13/123343.

REPLICATION OF THE POLISH REGIONALIZATION MODEL IN

EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE. CASE STUDY: ROMANIA

Anamaria Loredana IANOȘI, PhD.

Faculty of European Studies,

Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

ianosi.anamaria@ubbcluj.ro

Abstract

Sine quo dubium, in recent decades, Poland has surprised Europe with its unexpected results recorded in all major areas of
sustainable development, thus consolidating its position as a regional leader in the European funds' absorption field and a
leading spearhead in the field of regional development models in East-Central Europe. Getting rid of the Communist
residue at an alert pace, Poland stoically pursued the transition to democracy, preparing since late 1989 for the great
historic event of the EU accession. Poland has taken steps towards state and societal modernization, starting with the
reforms of decentralization, administrative division, and regionalization which it successfully completed in 1999. Under the
supervision of the great reformers of Poland (Lech Wałęsa, Bronisław Geremek, Jerzy Buzek, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Leszek
Balcerowicz, Elżbieta Bieńkowska), the regional map of the Polish state has been aligned to European norms. Also, the
regionalization process conceived and implemented by Polish experts soon became a model of good practice, especially for
the post-communist Member States that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007, which is why Poland was repeatedly referred to as
the "new heart of Europe" by consecrate authors (such as Aleks Szczerbiak). In this context, a relevant research question
arises, namely: "The replication of the Polish regionalization model in the EU Member States from East-Central Europe
(particularly Romania), could it have the same result as in the case of Poland?" Finding the answer to this question
represents the subject of this present research.

Keywords: East-Central Europe, Poland, Romania, regionalization, good practice example

1
Introduction

As the heuristic of European integration has shown, one of the most important challenges of the
new Member States that have joined the EU in recent decades has been to create an effective
regionalization system that sustains a balanced development of regions and which facilitates the
absorption process of European funds. While some states, immediately after accession, were
making considerable efforts to find the most appropriate variant of regionalization, Poland
managed to implement a successful regionalization system, four years before becoming an EU
Member State with full rights and obligations (2004). The socio-economic development and
democratic behavior of present Poland would not have been possible without the decentralization
process started in 1989, followed closely by the administrative division process and by the
regionalization reform (1992-1999). Under the new reform of 1999, the territory of Poland was
divided into regions (voivodeships). In their turn, the regions were divided into districts (powiate),
communes (gmine) and municipalities with distinct status, "all operating on the principle of
decentralization and self-government".1 Thus, in recent decades, regionalization has been a widely
debated topic at European level and Poland has gradually succeeded in creating an efficient and
effective regionalization model, which has soon become an example of good practice for the new
EU Member States with a poorly defined regionalization system. Hence, the purpose of this study
is to identify the main aspects of the Polish regionalization model that underpin its efficiency and
to test to what extent the application of the Polish model in other post-communist Member States
(Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania etc.) would have the same effect as that
obtained by Poland. Based on the Polish experience, the implementation of such a regionalization
system in a Member State with characteristics similar to the Polish state, in the medium and long
term, would lead to: developing strong and autonomous regions, improving the public
administration, a better cooperation between local, regional, and national levels and simplifying the
procedures for contracting European funds for regional development. In order to reach this goal,
the study aims to achieve three major objectives: clarification of the regionalization concept (1),
identification of the strengths of the Polish regionalization model (2), (starting from the Polish
model), designing a regionalization model characteristic for East-Central Europe with a case study
applied to Romania (3).

1. Regionalization, clarification of a concept

1
Cătălina Tuluca, Exemple de bune practici în Politica Regională a Europei Centrale și de Est. Cazul Poloniei. In
Gabriela Drăgan, Leonard Orban and Gabriela-Carmen Pascariu (eds.), Politica de Coeziune a Uniunii .Europene,
determinanți, mecanisme, instrumente, Ed. Universitară, Bucharest, 2013, p. 223, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi,
Drumul României spre o absorbţie eficientă a fondurilor europene. Despre transformarea miracolului polonez în
miracolul românesc. Analiză comparativă, Presa Universitară Clujeană, Cluj-Napoca, 2018, p. 91.

2
Since the '90s, when the Cohesion Policy and the principle of multi-annual programming of the
allocation of European funds over a seven-year period were introduced at EU level, the regions and
regionalization have asserted themselves in the European states, which are considered to be "an
important innovation of the system of territorial administration of the last decades". 2 Thus, at
present, it is possible to discuss about a "Europe of the Regions" in which the regions are public
bodies that correspond to the new territorialization needs agreed by the community policies of the
EU.3
According to the dictionary, regionalization means "division into regions or administrative
districts: to arrange regionally".4 In the understanding of the European Parliament, regionalization
represents, by definition: "the process of promoting a supralocal or sub-national territory, to
mobilize the economy through local or regional solidarity, in order to achieve the capacity of
autonomous action, as well as to develop its potential". 5 The regionalization process can be carried
out either through existing institutions or through the creation of a new territorial division.6
Regionalization is not a threat to the territorial unity of a state. The supporters of the
decentralization process do not want to disintegrate the country as a state but they seek to improve
their economic performance through multi-level governance7. Regionalism is characterized by "a
community that considers itself capable of solving local problems to the detriment of the state,
considered too remote and too large".8 Regionalization means "the desire to reach a balance of
economic development, by raising the level of the less developed areas". 9 Therefore,
regionalization and regionalism (or separatism) are two different concepts: "Regionalism is a term
encountered in the discourse of politicians, which can lead to federalization (a territorial assembly
with a common history and culture that can acquire competences for public policies)" and
regionalization is "an administrative action aimed at creating spaces for cooperation and defines
new administrative-territorial units".10 At the EU level, several models of regionalization have
singled out, but all are based on three basic components: decentralization, multi-level governance
and the application of the subsidiarity principle. As a general conclusion, regionalization is a
movement that goes from top to bottom while regionalism is a movement from bottom to top.

2
Georgeta-Camelia Mitică, Este regionalizarea poloneză un model pentru România? In Ecostudent. Revistă de
cercetare ştiinţifică a studenţilor economişti, No.1, 2013, p. 37, available at:
http://www.utgjiu.ro/ecostudent/ecostudent/pdf/2013-01/7_Georgeta%20Camelia%20Mitica.pdf, accessed on: 17
November 2019.
3
Ibidem, p. 37.
4
Merriam Webster Dictionary, Definition of regionalize, available at: https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/regionalize, accessed on: 17 November 2019.
5
Gerard Marcou, La régionalization en Europe, Parlament Européen, L-2929, Luxembourg, pp. 17-34, available at:
http://www.pantheonsorbonne.fr/fileadmin/GRALE/PEregional1.pdf, accessed on 17 November 2019, cited by
Georgeta-Camelia Mitică, op. cit., p. 37.
6
Ibidem, p. 37.
7
Graţian Mihăilescu, Regionalizarea - clarificarea unui concept. In Contributors, 13 Dec., 2012, available at:
http://www.contributors.ro/administratie/regionalizarea-clarificarea-unui-concept/, accessed on 17 November 2019.
8
Ibidem.
9
Ibidem.
10
Ibidem.

3
2. Regionalization models in East-Central Europe

Nowadays, the fact that the European space is structured in regions as sub-national territorial units
with separate identities it is already a locus communis: for some, the regions are cultural-ethnic
units, for others, economic or geographical units, but for the majority, they are simply
administrative subdivisions of the national state.11 This paradigm shift that highlights the
"regionalist predisposition"12 of the European space has made the EU "inherit" the territorial and
social differences between Western and Eastern Europe (whose development has been "frozen" for
too long) until the moment of accession, thus imposing at EU level a regional policy that "cannot
lose sight of the convergence and reduction of economic differences between West and East, with
all the inherent dilemmas, because only in this way the Union can maintain its political unity". 13
Thus, Central and Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 turned their
attention to regionalization, some with more openness and enthusiasm, others with more fear and
less enthusiasm. In the table below, the EU Member States of are presented in terms of the form of
government and the type of regionalization (where it exists).

Table 1. Forms of government and types of regionalization in EU Member States of Est-Central Europe

EU Member Form of government - Special solutions, asymmetries

State the type of
regionalization
Czech Republic Unitary Republic There is a regional level

Poland Unitary Republic There is a regional level

16 autonomous regions, 314 districts
Cyprus Unitary Republic Cyprus constitution separates the two Cypriot communities,
Greek and Turkish, but not on regional basis.
Estonia Unitary Republic There is no regional level

Latvia Unitary Republic There is no regional level

Lithuania Unitary Republic There is no regional level

Malta Unitary Republic There is no regional level

Slovenia Unitary Republic There is no regional level

Bulgaria Unitary Republic There is no regional level

11
Miklós Bakk, Cosmin Marian, Construcţia regională în Europa, In Miklós Bakk, József Benedek (eds.), Politicile
regionale în România, Polirom, Bucharest, 2010, p. 19.
12
Ibidem.
13
Ibidem.
4
 Slovakia Unitary Republic 8 development regions
75 provinces
Hungary Unitary Republic Formal development regions
Wide municipal and communal autonomy
Romania Unitary Republic There are formal development regions
41 counties

Source: Miklós Bakk, József Benedek (eds.), Politicile regionale în România, Polirom, Bucharest, 2010, pp. 22-23.

From the table above, it can be seen that of the analyzed states that joined the EU in the two
accession waves of 2004 and 2007 respectively, the best results in the area of regionalization
were obtained by the Czech Republic and Poland and the states that failed to reach any
consensus on the implementation of an efficient regionalization model and aligned to the
European norms, despite the efforts made before, during and after the integration process are:
Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Also, beside these two categories of states, the "big winners"
and the "big losers" of regionalization, there is also a third category: the small Member States
that do not have NUTS 2 regionalization level (between 800,000 and 3,000,000 inhabitants per
region), precisely because of their size and to the reduced population (including Croatia, a
Member State since 2013, whose territory is within the NUTS 3 level, (with a population
between 150,000 and 800,000 inhabitants per region). Next, we will turn our attention to the
Polish regionalization model.

3. The Polish regionalization model

Historically, accession to the EU has meant for Poland an important chance for fast
development and an opportunity to significantly improve the level and quality of life of its
inhabitants as the National Development Strategy of Poland 2007-2015 (NDSP) 14 stipulates15.
With an area of 312 690 km, a population of 38 635 144 inhabitants and with a GDP estimated
in 2004 at 11 678 euros16, Poland seemed more than ready to break away from the communist
past and to reunite with the European powers, which was done by signing the EU Accession
Treaty of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland,
Slovenia and Slovakia on February 19, 2003 and its ratification on May 1, 2004. 17 In this
regard, there stand as evidence, the endeavors undertaken by the Polish President Lech Wałęsa
(1990-1995), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (1983), who guided the country in its transition
from communism to democracy and which has prepared it since the early 1990ˈs for the great
14
Ministry of Regional Development, Poland, National Development Strategy of Poland 2007-2015, Warsaw, 2006, p.
5, available at: http://www.nationalplanningcycles.org/sites/default/files/country_docs/Poland/ndp_poland.pdf,
accessed on 17 November 2019, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 63.
15
Note: For more information about the Polish regionalization model, please see: Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit,
2018, pp. 59-134 (PhD Thesis).
16
World Bank Organization, Data about Poland: surface, population, GDP, available at:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.SRF.TOTL.K2?locations=PL&display=graph, accessed on 17 November
2019.
17
EU Accession Treaty of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia
and Slovakia, available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/enlargement_new/treaty/default_en.htm, accessed on 17
November, 2019, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 60.
5
 historical event of EU accession.18 The accession to the EU was seen by the great political
activist as a very important decision, considering that Poland could be rewarded for all those
years when it was abandoned by the Western European powers in the sphere of Soviet
influence.19 During 1990-2006, Poland underwent, beyond the historical transformation per se,
a fundamental political transformation: democratic rules were introduced in the functioning of
the state, the market economy was introduced, an opening to international competition was
outlined, the old domains of the economy were reorganized and the modern domains
experienced a dynamic and sustained development.20 Therefore, Poland's accession to the EU
was preceded by a long history of positive structural and institutional reforms. Thus, Poland
has set five national objectives to support the development process, being aware that, in order
to be successful, the unique opportunity of accessing community funds must be supported by
smart internal measures and by the use of all the economic mechanisms available to it.
Increasing the role of investments, increasing exports, lowering the inflation rate, lowering the
unemployment rate and removing the fixed expenditures ceiling of public finances are just a
few of the measures responsible for the explosion of the Polish economy and for its
sustainability.21 As a particularity, Poland has long been characterized as one of the most
underdeveloped countries in the EU 25, but which had a huge and powerful development
potential. Poland has benefit from many advantages: the population's potential, high level of
entrepreneurship, attractiveness for investors, young, highly skilled and cheap labor force,
natural environment, structure of the country's spatial development (close to Germany) and also
the Polish culture, are emblematic for this country.22 All these advantages have brought their
contribution in Poland's quest for effective regionalization. Before regionalization, however,
Poland prepared the ground with a series of reforms, among which the Decentralization Reform
stands out.

3.1. The Decentralization Reform

At the end of 1989, (as in the EU accession period), the differences between Poland and the rest
of the communist states, from a macroeconomic perspective, were not very large, the social
situation being also at the same level 23. However, the Polish Communist government had the
initiative to implement a bunch of economic reforms and to allow, within certain limits, free
private initiatives.24 As a result of the partially free elections, organized in June 1989, the first
non-communist government in Eastern Europe was established in Poland, led by Tadeusz
Mazowiecki.25 Shortly after the establishment of the new government, in September 1989, then
finance minister Leszek Balcerowicz, strongly supported by US economist Jeffrey Sachs and
businessman George Soros, began to work effectively on a set of measures aimed at interrupting
18
Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 60.
19
Ibidem.
20
NDSP 2007-2015, op. cit, p. 5, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 63.
21
Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 67.
22
NDSP 2007-2015, op. cit., p. 13, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi , op. cit, p. 72.
23
Cătalina Tuluca, op. cit., p. 225, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 90.
24
Ibidem.
25
Ibidem.
6
 the period of hyperinflation and laying the foundations for the transition to the market economy. 26
Balcerowicz's Plan entered into force on December 31, 1989 and included, among others27:
(1) The possibility of bankruptcy in the case of state companies those are not profitable;
(2) The budget deficit could not be financed by the printing of currency by the central bank;
(3) The prohibition of preferential loans for state-owned companies and the correlation of
interest with inflation;
(4) The introduction of a set of taxes for all companies and prohibiting the special taxes applied
to private companies;
(5) Granting the right of foreign companies and natural persons to invest in Poland and to be able
to export the profits;
(6) The liberalization of foreign exchange transactions within Poland;
(7) The abolition of the state monopoly on foreign trade;
(8) Uniform taxation of all companies;
(9) Establishing the coordinates in which the unemployment agencies operate;
(10) Protecting workers in state-owned companies from mass layoffs and guaranteeing
unemployment benefits.
Thus, the process of political and economic transition started after 1989 led to the revival of local
autonomy in Poland, thanks to Polish experts who decided to choose a different path compared to
other post-communist states: decentralization of public affairs. So, in March 1990, the "Territorial
Self-Governance Act" was amended and also in May 1990 the first free municipal elections in
Central and Eastern Europe were held.28 Following Balcerowicz's Reform at the end of 1989, the
decentralization process started from the lowest level of public administration, the role of
municipalities was strengthened and all of these allowed the much desired transition to the market
economy. Then there was an attempt to reduce bureaucracy and administrative costs. Even
though, since the beginning of the process, the Polish administrative system has been dominated
by bureaucratic centralism, due to a large number of territorial-administrative units, this transition
period has been beneficial to the preparation of a new system based on three types of territorial
self-government units, which were to be independent of each other, implemented ten years later,
in the framework of the Polish Administrative Reform.29

3.2. The Regionalization Reform

Prior to 1998, Poland consisted of 49 administrative units, similar to the counties of Romania. In
order to make the regional administration more efficient, Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek (1997-
2001), decided to implement an administrative reform. According to the new Administrative
Reform of 1999, Poland's territory was divided into 16 voivodeships (or regions). In their turn,
the 16 voivodeships were divided into 314 districts, 2478 communes and 65 municipalities with
distinct statute.30 In the new administrative division, the districts and communes represented units
26
Ibidem.
27
Ibidem.
28
Graţian Mihăilescu, op. cit., cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit. p. 91.
29
Cătalina Tuluca, op. cit., p. 231, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 91.
30
Cătalina Tuluca, op. cit., p. 223, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 91.
7
 of local government, and the voivodeships represented units of regional management, responsible
for the execution of the regional policy, with a mixed governance between the central government
and self-government. These 16 regions or voivodeships have decision-making power: they have a
local parliament that is called the "small parliament" and an executive council headed by a
president named "marshal" in Poland (also, the regions collect a part of taxes, both from
individuals and corporations).31 In terms of autonomy, the Polish regions can be compared with
the Spanish or the Italian regions. Another innovative breath brought by this administrative model
is the placement of funds specially designed for regional development (roads, hospitals,
education) under the management of regional authorities. 32 These authorities negotiate directly
with the European Commission.33 The Ministry of Regional Development of Poland (responsible
for European funds) participates in these discussions, but the regions have autonomy of
decision.34 The Polish regionalization model registered another victory in 2007, when the
government decided that 25% of the total structural and cohesion funds obtained for the 2007-
2013 programming period should be managed at regional level (this aspect representing an
evolution from the 2004-2006 programming period, when the regions exercised only partial
control over the Operational Programs.35 The decentralization process in Poland is a successful
example of the Polish state's efforts in this direction, and administrative reform and strong
regionalization have done nothing but facilitate the proper functioning of democracy and the
economy by helping the country in the process of European integration. The effects of the
decentralization process have led to an efficient management of the public administration, acting
at different levels, as well as to the improvement of cooperation and competition between the
basic levels of administration (local, regional, national). The result of these measures made
Poland to contract during the 2007-2013 programming period, 60% of the funds in small projects
(innovation, education, IT, higher education) and 40% in large projects (infrastructure, roads,
railways, health, culture, programs for innovative companies that promote new ideas in the
market, programs on human capital), quickly exhausting the funding received.36

31
Cătalina Tuluca, op. cit., p. 232, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 91.
32
Ibidem.
33
Ibidem.
34
Ibidem.
35
Cătalina Tuluca, op. cit., p. 236, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 93.
36
Ion M. Ioniță, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, ministrul polonez al Dezvoltării Regionale: Cum a cheltuit Polonia toţi banii de
la UE. In Adevărul, 14 Jun., 2011, available at: http://adevarul.ro/news/societate/elzbieta-bienkowska-ministrul-
polonez-dezvoltarii-regionale-cheltuit-polonia-banii-ue-1_50ad5fae7c42d5a66393eef8/index.html, accessed on 17
November 2019.

8
 Figure 1. The administrative structure of Poland before and after1999

The administrative-regional division of Poland between 1975-1999 (49 counties)

The administrative-regional division of Poland after 1999-present (16 regions)

Source: Jacek Kozłowski, Strong Polish Regions and European Regional Policy. Mazovia, 29 Sept. 2013, pp. 6-7.
available at: http://www.slideshare.net/kyivsolidarityfundpl/strong-polish-regions-and-european-regional-policy,
accessed on 17 November 2019, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit. p. 92.

Figure 2. Regionalization of Poland

9
Source: Georgeta-Camelia Mitică, Este regionalizarea poloneză un model pentru România? In Ecostudent. Revistă de cercetare
ştiinţifică a studenţilor economişti, No.1, 2013, p. 38, available at: http://www.utgjiu.ro/ecostudent/ecostudent/pdf/2013-
01/7_Georgeta%20Camelia%20Mitica.pdf, accessed on: 17 November 2019.

In conclusion, the Polish model of regionalization is still effective today, underpinning Poland's
sustainable development. The great advantage of the Polish regionalization process was that it
was implemented before joining the EU, which saved Poland from the complications of
implementing a regionalization system during a multi-year (7-year) financing program, which
would make the process even more difficult, this fear justifiably existing in Romania.

10
 4. Replication of the Polish regionalization model in Romania

Currently, in Romania we cannot talk about a functional regionalization but rather of a formal
regionalization, whose sole purpose was to divide the state into regions in order to provide
regional statistics to the EU and to have access to European funds.
Next, we will turn our attention to the attempts made by Romania in the field of regionalization.

4.1. Regionalization. Romania's situation

Currently, Romania is organized territorially in accordance with the 1991 Constitution 37 and the
Law 69/1991 on public administration. 38 Thus, the basic administrative-territorial units in
Romania before joining the EU, were 41 counties, 80 municipalities, 262 cities, 2687 communes
and 13.097 villages.39 Following the application for EU membership, 8 development regions are
introduced in Romania by Law 151 of July 15, 1998 on regional development. The law clearly
specifies that the development regions are not administrative-territorial units and do not have
legal personality, being a kind of "formal" regions. 40 Also, according to Law 315 of June 24,
2004, regarding the regional development through which the institutional framework of the
regions was established, it is specified that "the development regions constitute [only] the
framework for the elaboration, implementation and evaluation of the regional development
policies, as well as for collecting specific statistical data, in accordance with the European
regulations issued by Eurostat for the second NUTS 2 territorial classification level
(Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) existing in the European Union". 41 The most
important regionalization attempt in Romania took place in 2013. Regionalization was supposed
to be based on the Polish model, and the Polish representatives were more than willing to support
the Romanian initiative, the Ministry of Development of Poland signing with the Ministry of
Regional Development and Public Administration a Memorandum on cooperation in the field of
regional development and public administration, in September 27, 2013.42 Unfortunately,
Romania did not seem ready at that time for the big step towards a functional regionalization of
Polish origin and based on political misunderstandings, although the project was in an advanced
state, it was abandoned, becoming a mere archive document. Since then, regionalization has not

37
Constitution of Romania, 1991, available at: http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/act_show?ida=1&idl=1, accessed on 17
November 2019.
38
Law 69/1991on public administration, available at: https://lege5.ro/Gratuit/gy3denrz/legea-nr-69-1991-privind-
administratia-publica-locala, Accessed on 17 November 2019.
39
Encyclopedia of Romania. The administrative organization of the territory, 1995 (1990-2006), available at:
http://enciclopediaromaniei.ro/wiki/Organizarea_administrativă_a_teritoriului, accessed on 17 November 2019.
40
Law 151/1998 on regional development, available at: http://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/15220,
accessed on 17 November 2019.
41
Law 315/2004 regarding regional development in Romania, Art. 6, paragraph 2, available at:
https://lege5.ro/Gratuit/gu3domrv/legea-nr-315-2004-privind-dezvoltarea-regionala-in-romania/2, accessed on 17
November 2019.
42
Memorandum of agreement between the Romanian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration
and the Polish Ministry of Regional Development on cooperation in the field of regional development and public
administration, 27 Sept. 2013, available at: http://www.fonduri-
structurale.ro/Document_Files//Stiri/00013787/qnkud_Memorandul%20de%20Intelegere%20Romano-
%20Polonez.pdf, accessed on 17 November 2019, cited by Anamaria Loredana Ianoşi, op. cit., p. 247.
11
 registered significant progress, being present in the public space only at the level of political
discourse.

Figure 3. Development regions of Romania

Source: Research Gate, available at: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Development-

regions-of-Romania_fig2_228267981, accessed on: 17 November 2019.

4.2. Replication of the Polish regionalization model in Romania. Costs and benefits

The application of the Polish regionalization model can be a feasible project, due to the similarities
between the two states (historical, socio-political, economic and institutional). The implementation
of this project would involve, at first glance, the following steps:

Assigning appropriate names to the development regions: Bucharest-Ilfov, Banat, Bucovina,

Dobrogea, Moldova, Muntenia, Oltenia and Transilvania.
Introducing the regions in the Romanian Constitution as administrative-territorial units with
legal personality.
Creating a specific Ministry for the management of European funds.
Choosing a regional capital for each region: Bucharest, Alba-Iulia, Piatra-Neamţ, Cluj-
Napoca, Brăila, Timişoara, Craiova, Călăraşi.
Creating a Parliament and a Regional Government for each region.
The elections for rulling the region shall be made by vote.
The public functions created at regional level should be occupied on the basis of the
meritocracy principle.
The regions will manage the funds intended for regional development: roads, hospitals, schools.
The regions will collect taxes and fees. Most of the funds collected will remain in the region.
Drafting of a National Operational Program for underdeveloped regions.
12
And, as a personal touch, to the ones mentioned above, the Romanian governors take into
consideration (at political discourse level), the introduction of other objectives (some good, some
questionable) such as:

Keeping the counties (4 levels: local, county, regional and national).

 Creating a Regional Court of Appeal.
 Establishing a Regional Economic and Social Council, with advisory role.
 Introducing the principle of solidarity: the developed regions will support the
underdeveloped regions based on this principle etc.

Like any other reform, the Regionalization Reform brings with it benefits and costs. This also
happened in the case of Poland, but in the end it was found that the benefits of regionalization were
far greater than the costs incurred. The problems encountered by Poland will certainly appear in the
case of Romania, so it is important for them to be identified early and their effect to be minimized,
so that the benefits of regionalization outweigh its costs. The table below presents, briefly, the
advantages and disadvantages of implementing regionalization in Romania, which must be taken
into account in the future.

Table 2. Advantages and disadvantages of regionalization in Romania

Advantages Disadvantages

Powerful and autonomous regions. Accentuation of regional imbalances

Lower costs for taxpayers.
Much easier mobilization of funds.
Public-private partnerships.
Competitiveness in the public sector.
Concentration of European programs under the
control of a single institution.
Efficient organizational structures: increasing
absorption (currently 20% of total funds).
Administrative and financial decentralization.
Creation of new beneficial regional economic
policies.
Establishing new relations with the EU, the IMF, the
World Bank and other institutions.
(together with the economic growth).
There is a risk of transferring responsibility
between local, county, regional and central
levels during difficult times.
Over-bureaucracy, by creating a new public
office.
Transfer of administrative personnel (the risk of
personnel restructuring).
Increasing unemployment.

Source: Georgeta-Camelia Mitică, Este regionalizarea poloneză un model pentru România?, Ecostudent, No. 1, 2013, p.
39, available at: http://www.utgjiu.ro/ecostudent/ecostudent/pdf/2013-01/7_Georgeta%20Camelia%20Mitica.pdf, accessed
on 17 November 2019.

13
 Conclusions

Regionalization is a widely debated topic at European level, in the academic, political and
economic environment, with the EU encouraging the implementation of such a process in its
Member States. It should also be underlined the fact that regionalization is often confused with
the term regionalism or separatism, which puts regionalization in an unfavorable light. Thus,
regionalization means the desire to reach a balance of economic development, by raising the
level of the less developed areas, while regionalism militates for the region to reach decision-
making power. A functional regionalization is therefore the aim of all the all large Member
States newly entered the EU from the 2004 and 2007 accession waves (except Poland and the
Czech Republic which have achieved this objective).
Due to its success, the Polish regionalization model has become an example of good practices in
East-Central Europe. Romania needs a decentralization/ regionalization process to streamline the
development needs of the regions and to give them the chance to develop at their own pace.
Based on the Polish experience, the implementation of such a regionalization system in
Romania, would have the effect of: developing strong and autonomous regions, streamlining the
public administration, a better cooperation between the local, regional, and national level and
simplifying the procedures for contracting European funds for regional development.
The 2019 may be the year of resuscitation of discussions on regionalization, these being
encouraged even by the President of Romania Klaus Johannis. In his second term government
program, the president stated: "As President of Romania, I will support the resumption of a
serious discussion on regionalization and decentralization. The present territorial administrative
division of Romania dates from the communist period and the transformations through which it
passed did not alter its background" (Klaus Johannis, România lucrului bine făcut, p. 70).43
In the end, it should not be ignored that the process of regionalization is not free of threats,
whose discovery and remediation on time will lead to minimizing costs and maximizing the
benefits of the "so much wanted" (and needed) regionalization.

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43
Klaus Johannis, România lucrului bine făcut, (presidential program), 2019, p. 70, available at:
https://www.presidency.ro/files/userfiles/Program-prezidential.pdf, accessed on 17 November 2019.

14
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